


I changed my mind

by Perelynn



Category: Altered Carbon (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Smut, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-04 23:53:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18354314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perelynn/pseuds/Perelynn
Summary: ‘I’m gonna be at the Raven on Coronado street, if you change your mind. You should change your mind.’What if Kristin does change her mind? Set right after S01E01.





	I changed my mind

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [They stole his life](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18351869) by [Perelynn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perelynn/pseuds/Perelynn). 



> This story was inspired by ‘They stole his life’ by Helga Okami. My fanfic begins where her first chapter left off. The only difference is, Kristin Ortega does see the face of Takeshi Kovacs before the elevator doors close.

ORTEGA

When they are leaving the Raven hotel, she wants to scream in fury. Abboud is holding her elbow, propelling her steadily towards the door. Kristin looks back for the last glance at the stranger in Ryker’s body. 

What she sees makes her stumble. The elevator doors are closing, but she manages to catch a glimpse of Kovacs’ face. The terrorist, so arrogant and full of himself just a minute ago, now looks completely different. There is pain in his features, loneliness and despair. 

Kristin and Abboud go back to the precinct. They do the paperwork: reports, logs, files, identification of the sleeve dead. All this time Kristin is thinking about Kovacs. Now that she saw past his bulletproof exterior, she can find something other than rage in her heart. There is curiosity and...sympathy?

He is going back on ice tomorrow. She will not see anyone wearing this sleeve again, not any time soon. Tonight may be her only chance. 

She tells Abboud she is going home. Instead, she heads directly to the Raven.

‘Can I be of assistance, Officer?’ the AI owner asks her.  
‘I’m here to see Kovacs,’ she informs him curtly, trying to sound all business-like.

Maybe he stepped out. Maybe she’ll go home after all. Maybe it’s for the best.

‘Mr.Kovac is upstairs,’ says the owner. ‘He told me not to let anyone into his room, but I do remember him giving the invitation to your person, so I guess it’s all right.’

Kristin is already in the elevator, leaving the babbling AI behind. 

The room is enormous. Ortega half-expects to see Kovacs already entertaining himself with some - how did he put it? - ‘high-end hookers’. She is surprised (and relieved) to find the bed empty. Actually, there is no sign of Kovacs anywhere. Where the hell is this bastard?

She finds him on the balcony. He is sitting on the concrete floor, completely drenched. There are tears in his eyes - or is it rain? He may still be high.

‘You,’ Kovacs says, blinking at her. ‘Came to arrest me?’  
‘No,’ she says.  
‘Then what the fuck are you doing here?’  
‘I’ve change my mind.’

This gets his attention. He smirks. 

‘Have you now?’ he asks, standing up. ‘And why would that be? You like me more when I’m bruised and battered?’ 

Kristin is already regretting her decision.

‘Nevermind,’ she says, turning towards the door. ‘Forget it.’  
‘Hey, wait, wait, stop,’ Kovacs calls after her. ‘I, um, glad you’ve come. I just not really expected you to, is all.’ He pauses. ‘Maybe there is one thing that goes right this evening,’ he adds softly. 

Kristin turns back to him and looks at his face, familiar and strange at the same time. For the first time since Kovacs is out of the tank, she sees uncertainty in these features. And - can it be? - a hint of joy?

The man doesn’t give her much of an opportunity to do a character study. He grabs her hand, not ungently, and leads her toward the bed. His fingers are cold, but she feels a wave of heat rolling through her body. Kristin swallows. Is it an apprehension or anticipation? She is not sure.

Kovacs sits down on the bed, somehow almost not diminishing in height, and pulls her closer, positioning her in between his thighs. His bold gestures end at this, at least for now. He is just sitting there, looking at her. 

‘That’s weird,’ he mutters. ‘I’ve never seen you before in my life, before this morning. And yet, there is a sense of familiarity about you. A strong connection.’

Kristin knows exactly what connection he is talking about, and she is not eager to elaborate on the topic. Instead, she raises her hand to touch his cheek. He leans into her palm when she does. Her fingers start trembling. A small whimper escapes her lips. That is when Kovacs takes her face into both his hands and brings to his for a kiss. 

***

KOVACS

First time he comes, she not even close. The girl - is her name Kristin? - is riding him, her eyes half-closed, her small fists pressing into his shoulders for support. When she feels him pulsing inside her, she stops for a moment, giving him a chance to catch his breath. As soon as he is done, she starts moving, teasing him until he is battle-ready again. To be fair, this happens remarkably fast.

They don’t say much to each other. They almost don’t look at each other. All he wants is to touch, to feel, to satisfy the gnawing need to connect. He is slightly surprised that the girl seems to feel the same way, but hey, she comes across as a passionate type. With her doggedness, she is probably married to her job, clearly without much chance to release the tension that accumulates in this like of work. All in all, he can count himself lucky. 

When she comes, he is not done. She moans and clutches at his shoulders, and then rolls off him, heavy-breathing and sweaty. He knows she is probably tired and he is trying to restrain himself, but the urge is so strong he just cannot lay still. He is nuzzling her, kissing her, running his fingers through her hair. ‘You can finish,’ she mumbles, and he slides back into her eagerly. It doesn’t take him long. He moans ‘I love you’ as he comes.

Now, this is awkward. The words come unbidden, through no will of his own. The girl tenses in his arms. And she is hiding her face. Why? Normally a woman wouldn’t mind hearing things like that, even when she knows they are fake.

‘You okay?’ he asks. ‘Did I hurt you?’

She shakes her head into his shoulder, still not looking at him. She sniffs, then finally lifts her head. Her eyes have a suspicious shine to them.

‘It’s been a long time since someone said these words to me,’ she explains. ‘ And it took a psycho-terrorist to say them.’  
‘C’mon,’ he says, mildly offended, ’you keep calling me that.’  
‘Oh, just shut up and hold me,’ she retorts, nesting into his arms. 

He happily obliges. Very soon he aches for her again, but she is clearly exhausted, so he lets her fall asleep, his arms woven tightly around her. Even in her sleep, she has an angry line between her black eyebrows. Nice eyebrows, them. He kisses one, than another. Gradually, the line softens and smooths out. The girl looks peaceful and warm. Kovacs changes his position slightly, trying to get comfortable without disturbing her, and finally dozes off.

The girl jerks back into awakeness less than an hour later. She cast a glance around, disoriented. When her gaze stops at him, she look like she is about to dive for her gun. Kovacs waits, amused. 

‘Another round?’ he offers, his desire stirred by the sight of her slender frame.  
She scoffs, but then nods and climbs on top of him.

This time everything is just perfect. They move together, they moan together, they peak together. They both go with the flow, without preconceptions or reservations, and somehow it just works, taking them both exactly where they want to be. When they get tired again, they fall asleep together, still locked in each other’s embrace.

Kovacs doesn’t understand how or why it happened, but the girl who sleeps in his arms, the obtrusive, stalking, dirty-mouthed cop has given him more comfort and warmth than anyone in a long, long time. 

For the first time since he got out of the tank he feels the desire to keep living.

Maybe Quell is right. Maybe it is time to move on.


End file.
